What would you title it?

A good friend asked me, “if you had to title the stage of life you’re in right now, what would it be?” I love this question! I think we are all experiencing a phase of our lives that is a bit unexpected or not exactly what we had planned for ourselves. “Living is essential” is what I would call it. It’s hard to ignore the impact that a nation-wide pandemic has had on our day to day, and most definitely our futures. My days used to look like this; packing lunches, busing the kids to different schools, a full day at the office jumping from one meeting to another, racing to pick up the kids on time, throwing dinner together before heading off to soccer practice, squeezing in a work out, getting home late with a pile of homework looming and executing the nighttime routine before my head hit the pillow… just to start it all over again the next day. We were all tired, all the time.

Now, I don’t want to take away from the nightmare the pandemic has been for some, my heart goes out to those who are battling the virus and the loss that may have come with it. My family has been fortunate enough to stay healthy up to this point (knock on wood), but like you, our lives look a little different these days. It’s more essential. 

I imagine quarantine life to be similar to the “early days'“ before our calendars were filled with invites, actually before we even had calendars. “We have all observed the exponential increase in choices over the last decade. Yet even in the midst of it, and perhaps because of it, we have lost sight of the most important ones.” For me, this stage of life (that we were forced into) has turned into the most wonderful opportunity to scale back and focus on things I absolutely love and nothing else. 

Family. Art. Health. Home. 

What could be more essential than this? I can honestly say that I feel more alive now than I have in a long time. Eliminating the nonessential activities and the pressure to constantly be on the go meant I could say yes to my art. 

While I’ve been working towards this goal for years, the rapid change that came with the pandemic gave me just the push I needed to finish not just one but two collections of work. And with that, the Figures and Rock Collections were born. We’ll talk more about these bodies of work and what inspired their creation next time.

My hope for you is that you find clarity and freedom to live a life that is essential and full of true living.

PS: If you haven’t read Greg McKeown’s Essentialism, run to the store now (aka open the amazon app) and get yourself a copy. This book epitomizes the transformation I’ve experienced and will change your life too.

XO
Kala

Quote: Essentiallism by Greg McKeown